Planer arrangement with transverse conveyor clearing accumulation at end of face conveyor



A. LCBBE 3,306,666 PLANER ARRANGEMENT WITH TRANSVERSE CONVEYOR CLEARING Feb. 28, 196

ACCUMULATION AT END OF FACE CONVEYOR Filed July 1'7, 1964 United States Patent "ice 3,306,666 PLANER ARRANGEMENT WITH TRANSVERSE CONVEYOR CLEARING ACCUMULATION AT END OF FACE CONVEYOR Armin Liibbe, Oberaden, Post Kamen, Germany, asslgnor to F2. Gewerkschaft Eisenhutte Westfalia, Westphalia,

Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed July 17, 1964, Ser. No. 383,336 Claims priority, application Germany, Aug. 1, 1963,

7 Claims. ((51. 299-34 Coal planes for the winning of coal by a paring action, and which are carried on the side of a conveyor, have slanting surfaces in front of which the loosened material falls. The material slides up on the slanting surfaces as the :plane advances, and then passes over the side of the conveyor and falls onto the conveyor belt. A consequence of this method of operation is that, in its movement along the coal face, the plane is always pushing a more or less large amount of loose material. This is also the case at the extremities of the conveyor, so that, when the plane reaches the end of the wall, it is pushing loose coal towards the driving mechanism disposed at one end of the conveyor, or towards the return or reversal point at the other end of the conveyor. The piles of coal at the ends of the conveyor interfere with the operation of the conveyor.

This disadvantage exists also in respect to coal winning machines which do not operate with a paring action and in which the extracting tool is carried on a conveyor.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improvement in coal planes of the types referred to above, as will obviate the tendency of the loose material to accumulate at the ends of the apparatus and interfere with the operation thereof.

The manner in which this and other objects are attained will be apparent from the following description of the invention, taken in reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, looking at the mining apparatus from the coal face;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section on line 33 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the perforated plate of FIG. 3, seen in the direction of arrow 4 in FIG. 3.

The invention is concerned with apparatus for mining of material from a deposit having a vertically extending face disposed at the deposit end of the mine floor. Such apparatus includes a plane 19 having cutters 19a for engagement with the deposit to break material therefrom in the form of lumps. Means are provided for moving the plane horizontally along the vertically extending face of the deposit to force the cutters into extracting engagement with the face from the floor upward to effect the breaking of material from the deposit. The lumps fall into the path of the plane 19. A principal conveyor is disposed along the face behind the plane 19 for receiving the lumps and carrying them away from the locus of their extraction. The plane 19, as is well known, is mounted in such a manner that the lumps are pushed thereby upwardly and onto the conveyor. As discussed above, however, the plane is not effected to transfer the lumps to the conveyor adjacent the ends of the apparatus, and, accordingly, there tends to be an accumulation of lumps in the path of the plane adjacent the end of the conveyor.

The invention undertakes to deal with this difliculty by providing an auxiliary conveyor which is disposed at one end of the principal conveyor 10, and the auxiliary conveyor is arranged to receive lumps which accumulate at the end of the conveyor and to transfer them to the principal conveyor. As mentioned above, an auxiliary conveyor can be provided at each end of the principal 3,306,666 Patented Feb. 28, 1967 conveyor. The benefits realized by the practice of the invention, however, are most pronounced with respect to that end of the conveyor adjacent which the drive means for the plane is located.

In more detail the conveyor 10 composed of a plurality of like sections is provided at its discharge end with the drive station 11. The driving is done by two motors 12 and 13, which by means of right-angle drives 14 and 15 drive the two drive sprockets 16 of the conveyor. At the same time, however, the sprocket 17 that drives plane chain 18 is driven by the same drives. The chain 18 is disposed parallel to the principal conveyor 10 and includes upper run 18' and lower run 18". The upper or working run 18' of the plane chain passes freely in the area between the conveyor 10 and the coal face. Run 18' is connected to the plane 19. The lower run 18" of the chain, however, is guided through a tubular guide which is fastened laterally to the conveyor 10, and on which the plane 19 is slidingly guided. Such construction is conventional and is not illustrated in detail.

According to the invention, an auxiliary conveyor 20 having carriers 20' is disposed a short distance ahead of the drive station 12, 14, the said auxiliary conveyor comprising, for example, an endless chain running and carried as in FIG. 3. The one leg 21' of this auxiliary conveyor runs along the floor. The perforated plate 22 disposed above it is designed to assure that leg 21' runs as closely as possible to the floor over its entire length. Leg 21' therefore drags the fine coal, including the coal which drops onto the perforated plate and passes through the openings therein into the reach of the conveyor. The chain then travels over a reversal drum 23, and passes on to the upwardly slanting leg 21". This leg runs above the inclined plate 24. The material seized by the carriers 20 when the chain is brought around the drum 23 is moved upwards on the inclined plate 24 to the next reversal drum 25. This drum 25 brings about a shift in the direction of the chain to the downwardly extending leg 21. Before passing into this section, the carriers 20 hurl the conveyed material over the side shield 26 of the conveyor 10 and onto the conveyor belt.

An apron 27 is disposed within the auxiliary conveyor. The apron slants downward towards the coal face. Onto this apron 27 falls the fine material which the working section 18' of the plane chain carries along with it. The fine coal then slides down the inclined plane 27, and finally passes through the openings in perforated plate 22 into the reach of the horizontally running leg 21' of the auxiliary conveyor.

As is mention-ed above, the plane 19 always pushes a more or less large amount of loosened material towards the ends of conveyor 10 without being able to transfer all of such material onto the conveyor 10. In order to bring the loose material into the reach of the cross conveyor 20, a guide plate or slanting deflector 28 is disposed between the auxiliary conveyor 20 and the end of the plane guide, and similar weir plate 29 is disposed on the other side of the auxiliary conveyor to prevent the lumps from spilling off the auxiliary conveyor into the area of the drive station 12, 14.

The invention is not restricted to the type of auxiliary conveyor shown. The auxiliary conveyor could also be constructed in other ways.

The auxiliary conveyor can be provided with its own drive, but it may also derive its drive from the drive of the principal conveyor 10 and of plane 19. In that case the auxiliary conveyor 20 does not have to be constantly in operation, as it will suffice for it to be engaged just before the plane 19 reaches the end of the wall, and remain in action for a short time after the reversal of direction of the plane, during the return run of the latter, until the loose material has been delivered to the conveyor 10.

While the invention has been described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated that this embodiment is merely representative and does not serve to define the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for mining of material from a deposit having a vertically extending face disposed at the deposit end of the mine floor, comprising:

(a) a plane having cutters for engagement with the deposit to break material therefrom in the form of lumps;

(b) means for moving the plane horizontally along the :said vertically extending face of the deposit to force the plane cutter into extracting engagement with said face from floor upward for said breaking of material from the deposit, and depositing said lumps in the path of the plane;

(c).) a principal conveyor disposed along said face behind the plane for receiving said lumps and fines and carrying them away :from the locus of their extraction;

the improvement which comprises:

(d) an auxiliary conveyor fixedly positioned relative to the principal conveyor at One end of the principal conveyor on the deoosit working side of the principal conveyor for receiving lumps accumulating at said one end of the conveyor and transferring them to the principal conveyor.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, said auxiliary conveyor comprising an endless belt disposed for travel in a triangular path, said path including one leg disposed over the floor of the mine, extending from adjacent the principal conveyor outwardly therefrom, a second leg connecting with the outwardly disposed end of said first leg and inclined upwardly and extending from said connection towards the principal conveyor, and a third leg interconnecting the ends of said first and second legs adjacent the principal conveyor, and means for driving said belt to carry material upwardly over said inclined leg.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, and including a perforated plate disposed over said first leg of the auxiliary conveyor, closely adjacent thereto for holding the conveyor along said first leg in engagement with the mine floor.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, and including an endless chain connected to said plane for drawing the plane across the deposit face, said chain including an upper run and a lower run, said chain runs passing parallel to the principal conveyor and through the auxiliary conveyor, and a collecting apron disposed between said chain runs within the auxiliary conveyor, said collecting apron being disposed for delivering material collected thereby to the path of the auxiliary conveyor :for the taking up of such material by the auxiliary conveyor.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2, including a guide plate for guiding lumps accumulated at said one end of the conveyor to the outwardly disposed end of said first leg of the auxiliary conveyor for the taking up of the lumps by the auxiliary conveyor.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, said guide plate being disposed on the side of the auxiliary conveyor adjacent the plane, a wier plate disposed on the side of the auxiliary conveyor remote from the plane, for preventing spilling of lumps from said remote side of the conveyor.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 and drive means for the plane, said drive means being disposed on the side of the auxiliary conveyor opposite to the side on which the plane is disposed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,781,888 2/1957 Lobbe 29934 X FOREIGN PATENTS 688,590 3/1953 Great Britain.

ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner, 

1. IN APPARATUS FOR MINING OF MATERIAL FROM A DEPOSIT HAVING A VERTICALLY EXTENDING FACE DISPOSED AT THE DEPOSIT END OF THE MINE FLOOR, COMPRISING: (A) A PLANE HAVING CUTTERS FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH THE DEPOSIT TO BREAK MATERIAL THEREFROM IN THE FORM OF LUMPS; (B) MEANS FOR MOVING THE PLANE HORIZONTALLY ALONG THE SAID VERTICALLY EXTENDING FACE OF THE DEPOSIT TO FORCE THE PLANE CUTTER INTO EXTRACTING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FACE FROM FLOOR UPWARD FOR SAID BREAKING OF MATERIAL FROM THE DEPOSIT, AND DEPOSITING SAID LUMPS IN THE PATH OF THE PLANE; 